


Death's Favourite Bird

by theboywhotooknoshit



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Enemies to Friends, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I swear I did, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Marauders' Era, Pansexual Sirius Black, Phoenixes, Tags Are Hard, The Golden Trio Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-09-29 15:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17205806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboywhotooknoshit/pseuds/theboywhotooknoshit
Summary: How does one get involved with the Marauders?It's easy, really. All you have to do is have a potentially deadly secret and the wind just piles them up in front of you.





	1. The Feathering Problem

"Nox!", Lily Evans called across the platform nine and three quarters, causing the girl with the long and curly black hair who was just about to enter the train to stop and smile at her friend. 

The redhead quickly said goodbye to her parents and her sister Petunia, who merely frowned at her in return, before running to her friend and trapping her in a warm hug. 

"I missed you so much!", Lily exclaimed once they parted. They lived pretty far away and, since Nox's family was as conservative as the most of the remaining pureblood fanatics was and Lily was a muggleborn, they haven't been able to keep in touch as much as they wanted. 

"I missed you too!", Nox replied and almost automatically asked her, "How was your Summer?", hoping Lily couldn't notice the bags under her eyes and the way her skin was even paler than usual.

"It was okay, I guess", Lily replied and the two continued to chat as they entered the Hogwarts Express. In all honesty, Lily's Summer would've been great if only Petunia would realize Lily was still the same sister she always was and not a 'freak', as she put it. 

"Petunia?", Nox questioned, noticing the disappointed look Lily gave when she looked back at the Platform.

"Yeah... She still hates me. You'd think she'll cool off before the fifth year, but I don't think she ever will", she answered with a sad look in her eyes and Nox nodded in understanding. She didn't have a sibling, at least not a real one. Her niece was living with Nox and her parents for as long as Nox could remember though, and her family made her understand almost exactly what Lily felt. 

"Honestly, I have no idea how can you stand her. I met her once and had to leave so I don't end up becoming a mass murderer", Nox told her in her atempt to make her feel less miserable as they walked through the train, causing Lily to chuckle behind her.

"I bet your mother would be proud, though", she said and Nox grinned and mockingly let out a joyfull cry.

"Oh, I can already see her clapping and mussing about how her daughter finally came to her senses!", she animately continued as they both laughed again. After a while, they finally found an empty compartment and settled there. It was one of the compartments at the far end of the train. 

Despite the rare rides with the train, it all felt comfortably familiar and welcoming. The big window was allowing the light to gently shine through the whole compartment. It made the crimson seats look beautiful and Nox couldn't help but to admire the colour.

"Are you sure he'll show up?", she asked Lily again as she sat down. Severus was never late, especially when he knew Lily was waiting for him. They had been good friends even before Hogwarts and Lily claimed that he never once stood her up. Ironicaly, she told that story to Nox in their fourth year when they all agreed to study together on the last day of their first semester, only for Severus to decide to take a break and go hang out with other Slytherins no more than half an hour into the study session. 

"Yes, he told me to save him a seat", Lily replied as she sad across from her. 

"I bet he's with those bloody pure blood fanatics again", Nox clenched her fists, those people were no good in her eyes, " he was hanging out with them for the majority of the last school year"

"I know", Lily agreed as she thought of the way Severus acted last year at Hogwarts. "I'm worried about him." He was becoming more distant and secretive during the Summer break, too. "But maybe he really is just running late?", she offered and Nox frowned. 

"He's never late", Nox said and, just as Lily was about to say something back, James Potter walked into their compartment, alongside with his best friend, Sirius Black. 

James' black hair was as messy as always but he seemed much taller than the last time they saw him. He and Sirius wore matching grins that practically screamed ' _Kick us_!' to Nox. Though she tried her hardest not to do that. It would only make her fists hurt more than they already did. 

"Evans!", James smiled widely and Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Potter", she retorted bitterly. It was getting rather annoying. James seemed to be running after her for two years now. It was tiring, if you asked Nox, and bloody annoying, if you asked Lily. 

"Still hanging out with snakes, I see", he said and motioned towards Nox with a scowl on his face. The scowl was returned, of course. 

"Better watch your tongue, Potter", Nox told him before Lily could say anything and smiled sweetly, "Wouldn't want it to get cut off now, would we?" 

"As annoying as always, are we, McRiptide?", Sirius stepped in at that point. 

"You bet _you_ are", Nox answered quickly and he glared at her, "now get out." 

"And why are _you_ the one to decide about that?", James arched one eyebrow upwards. Sirius went to say something else, but was interrupted with an angry Lily, who rushed both of them out of the compartment. 

"Sorry", she turned to Nox once she closed the door. 

"It's not your fault, it's fine", Nox tried to assure her, but Lily shook her head. 

"It really isn't", she said, frustration evident in her voice. 

"Lily", Nox looked her straight into her eyes, "It's fine. Now let's talk about something else, shall we?" Lily huffed, but nodded.

"Fine", she said before adding, "You know, you didn't tell me about your Summer yet." 

Nox merely shrugged, "As bad as always, I suppose."

"Oh", Lily replied grimly, "I'm sorry. I thought maybe after so much time they would stop acting like...that", she said and Nox chuckled at her. 

"Please Lily, you know you're free to call them gits." 

"Noxy!", Lily gasped.

"What? They are!", Nox said and put her hands up in defense. Lily chuckled and shook her head at her. 

Before she could say anything else, they heard a knock on their compartment's door. A tall boy their age with longish black hair, Severus Snape, entered the compartment. He apologised quickly before greeting them with one of his rare warm smiles and hugging them both. There was no mention of why he was so late though.

Nonetheless, the three friends chatted away their time and, before they knew it, the train had stopped and all of the students slowly started to pile out.

"Here we go", Nox muttered under her breath as they exited their compartment. A few students from their year glared at her as she passed them and Nox tried not to look at them. 

Needless to say, even her own housemates weren't really fond of her. Mostly because her best friend was a Gryffindor and a muggle born, Lily Evans. Besides her, she was really good friends with Severus, too. But that didn't really change much. 

Through, even Severus seemed to stop talking to her as often as he used to. Nox didn't really blame him because of it. She knew how scared he was of other people's opinions. Maybe if she didn't have to keep her secret safe, she wouldn't get used to all of the silent judging and she'd be as scared for her reputation as he was for his. It was a thought that crossed her mind far more often than she would like to admit. 

She was just thinking about it and focusing on her shoes, when she suddenly found herself walking straight into Severus and then proceeding to fall down in the middle of the train hallway. 

Dull pain shot through her as her already formed bruises came in contact with the floor. Her back was sprawled across the hard floor and she could already hear laughter from the students behind her. 

Nox looked up only to see Severus looking down on her in panic and offering her his hand while Lily asked her if she's okay for the fifth time that day. She took Severus' hand and was back on her feet again in a matter of seconds, despite the crowd around them.

  


. . . 

  


"For the millionth time, Lily, I'm alright!", Nox exclaimed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as they entered the Great hall, "I am perfectly fine." 

"You look like you got hit by a blugger and you fell in the middle of the train for no apparent reason! Do you really expect me to believe you're alright?!", she whisper-yelled at her. Lily Evans was able to catch on the smallest of changes, especially when it came to her friends. She had a habit of over-worrying about it, too. It frustrated Nox to no end, but it also warmed her heart to have someone who cared enough to do that. 

"Fine!", Nox replied with an exhausted look on her face, "It's about the problem." 

"Problem?", Lily was confused for a moment, before realizing what Nox was referring to, "Oh, the feathering one?", she said and tried to mimic flying with her hands, making Nox chuckle tiredly at her.

"Yes, there were some...incidents with it this Summer. But I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, deal?", she told her, before hurrying off towards the Slytherin table without even checking if Lily agreed to what she had just said. 

Severus was already there, sitting beside a small group of students and nodding at something the tallest one of them said. Nox walked right pass him and sat on the other edge of the table, far away from the group. She looked up just in time to catch Lily's worried stare. Nox smiled and waved at her and Lily scoffed and shook her head at her, but then smiled and waved back anyways.

In the midst of it all though, somewhere beside the Hufflepuff table, James stood frozen in his tracks. He looked as if he could explode from happiness.

"Prongs?", Remus snapped his fingers in front of James' face. It seemed to work since it made James turn his gaze towards him, but Remus could tell that he was still in a daydream mode.

"Lily just waved at me!", he exclaimed and Sirius and Peter burst out laughing. 

"What?!", he asked stubbornly, "She did, look!" 

"James, mate, she waved to McRiptide", Peter said and motioned to the Slytherin table. His friends laughed even harder when James turned around only to see Nox waving back to Lily.

James' happy expression fell and almost immediately got replaced with a frown. "Oh, sod off", he muttered under his breath and went to sit at the Gryffindor table. 

His friends followed him, of course. They were still laughing and cracking jokes when they sat down and, much to James annoyance, they were all about what just happened minutes before. Sirius was just waving to him for the third time when they heard Dumbledore clear his throat. 

The whole Hall fell silent as the headmaster began his short speech after which, professor McGonagall came in with the first years following after her, curious looks on their faces. To most students, that went by fairly quickly, too. 

Soon enough, the feast was ready to begin and with it, their new year at Hogwarts.

  



	2. Almost Entirely Made Out Of Secrets

Nox was sitting at the Slytherin table and eating her breakfast, which consisted of a simple warm toast with some cherry jam. She was the only one at the table. It was far too early so she was sure no one would come to the Great Hall right now.

Her initial plan was try to delay telling Lily about her Summer for as long as possible. All that just because, truthfully, the only mayor thing that has happened isn't good at all and she was terrified of Lily's reaction.

Her plan was working for the time being and she was now sleepily munching on a piece of her toast and trying to keep her hair away from her face and in the bun on her head. It was already looking like a complete mess instead of a neat bun that Nox tried so hard to tie this morning. Instead of trying to fix it, though, Nox had decided to go along with it, at least until she's done with her breakfast.

Nonetheless, she was happy to feel free of the usual stares that accompanied her meals. That is, until the doors of the Great Hall opened and a visibly tired Remus Lupin walked through them and straight to the Gryffindor table, not forgetting to close the doors behind himself.

It took a few minutes for the sandy-haired boy to notice Nox and once he did, he wasn't sure what to do or how to act. The two have never really spoke to each other. Sure he knew a lot about her because of Sirius always complaining about her since Nox and Sirius tended to fight a lot, but he never really knew her personally, as a friend or a colleague.

It led to Remus knowing that her eyes weren't completely brown as many would say, but they were, in fact a reddish brown, even though one could only tell the difference if looking at them when it's a particularly bright day, otherwise her eyes would look black. Not brown or dark brown, but black. You wouldn't be able to separate her iris from her pupil, or so Sirius claimed. Why or how Sirius even managed to notice all of that, Remus couldn't quite understand, but he tried not to chuckle when his friend angrily described just how much the fact that her eyes seemed unique to him irritated him.

Remus also knew about her freckles, the ones that looked like fire and gold and were in complete contrast with her ghostly pale skin, which, of course, Sirius was never able to understand and always claimed to hate with every fiber of his existence. Just like her sarcasm, voice or the fact that she seems like she doesn't trust anyone. A true Slytherin, as Sirius once said.

Remus knew all of that, but he never knew the truth. In all honesty, she looked quite down to earth and pretty harmless right now. Fine, maybe not so harmless, seeing as her hair looked as if it's a pet ready to attack anyone who looks in any way threatening to or towards its owner, but she looked tired and sleepy and he felt the same, so at least he knew how to start the conversation. Besides, every story has something more to it than what is told, so why should this be any different? It was painfully awkward to sit in silence this morning.

Before eating anything, Remus stood up and made his way to the seat across Nox. Nox arched her left eyebrow in question and Remus smiled reassuringly.

"Good morning", he said and took a piece of still warm toast and placed it on his plate, before hearing Nox mutter a silent "Well, I'd be damned" and quietly laughing in reply.

"Yeah, I never really thought I'd be sitting here, either", he said, causing Nox to politely smile in response.

"In all seriousness, through, are you alright? You seem... I don't know..."

"Ill? Not well? I know that, but I'm fine. Just a little tired is all", she replied and he nodded in understanding before asking her "Then why are you up this early? You should rest"

"Really? Lupin, you do look like the nicest out of the lot, but did you really think I'd tell you right away?", she answered with a question and took another bite of her breakfast.

"You're right, it's not my business and I apologize. It's just, you look too tired for it to be perceived as normal", he explained and took a sip from the cup of coffee he poured himself just a couple of minutes ago.

"Fine, I'll go to madam Pomfrey's later. Alright? Can we now stop talking about how terrible I look?", Nox replied frustratingly but couldn't help but to sleepily chuckle at her last sentence and Remus rolled his eyes at her, but smiled and nodded in agreement nevertheless. They ended up walking towards the Hospital Wing afterwards together. It wasn't as weird as Nox thought it would be. For a moment, she almost forgot Remus was a Marauder.

The Wing was empty and Nox was ready to turn around and exit when Remus stopped her.

He then went into a room which looked as a part of the Hospital Wing, only to come out with an alarmed and scared looking madam Pomfrey behind him. Her eyes seemed to scan the whole room, before stopping on Nox. Madam Pomfrey seemed to relax a little once she saw that it was her, but a look of worry and anger still manage to flash across her face as she ran to the girl.

"What did they do this time?", she urgently asked her, convinced that the Marauders had done another prank and Nox quickly shook her head.

"It's fine, Poppy. I'm fine, they haven't done anything. It's only the first day", she tried to assure her and madam Pomfrey looked confused for a moment, before noticing that Nox was, in fact a lot paler than usual, there were some worryingly dark circles around her eyes and her hair looked somewhat dead, despite the deathly looking hairdo.

"You are absolutely not fine! Thank you, Remus, for taking her to me", madam Pomfrey thanked Remus before turning to an annoyed looking Nox again, "Let me see your hands", she said and Nox obeyed and placed her palms in the air in front of her while trying to keep her gaze focused on the dark pattern of the hospital floor. Madam Pomfrey gasped once she saw her nails. They were jet black.

Not knowing what to do and not remembering the confused looking Remus that stood beside them, she hugged her. Nox hugged her back and tried to show that she was okay by awkwardly patting the woman's back. She really wasn't sure what to do at this point.

"You can't stay with them anymore, Nox. How could they do this!? Do they have no heart at all?!", madam Pomfrey raged. Nox couldn't remember a time madam Pomfrey looked more furious.

"I'm not planning to return there, Poppy", Nox replied to her calmly, hoping the calm tone might make the worried woman a bit less tense. She hated to see her worried over her, madam Pomfrey almost like a mother to her, after all. He had cared and watched over her ever since her first year at Hogwarts.

She was too tired and knew very well just how hard it was to calm her down so she wasn't expecting much, but to her surprise, the usually kind looking woman calmed down once she heard her.

"Where will you go then?", she asked her, worry still evident in her eyes.

Nox simply shrugged in response. "I have something in mind, but I don't know for sure yet. I'm sure I'll figure it out."

Madam Pomfrey just signed tiredly and then turned to Remus. Nox already knew she could always turn to her for help, Poppy made sure to make it clear that she was there for the girl from the very first time they met. Remus put his hands up in defense and quickly tried to cover the puzzled look on his face. "I'm alright. Honestly", he told her before she could say anything.

"You don't seem like it", madam Pomfrey commented before handing small bottles of healing potion to both Remus and Nox. "The peaceful days of the month are passing by far to quickly for my liking", she sighed quietly.

She offered both of them passes for their today's classes so they could get some much needed rest and Nox was about to accept, but Remus was faster than her. He declined it with a polite "but thank you, madam Pomfrey" and soon after, they were both walking towards the school library. Nox didn't mind, the free pass would help her avoid Lily and the explanation she promised her, but in all honesty she missed the classes as well.

Because of that, instead of their common rooms, they headed for the library. 

 

 

. . .

 

 

"So", Remus thought of what to say once they were in the library and searching through the books. Nox looked up at him questioningly. "Care to explain what happened back at the Hospital Wing?"

"No, not actually", Nox replied quickly and took one of the books from the shelf to look at the cover. Remus raised his right eyebrow at her and she turned to look him straight in the eyes.

"Look, Lupin, you seem like a nice lad and all, but you're still a Marauder. Do you really expect me to trust you?", she said and returned the book in its original place, before leaving Remus behind and muttering a quick "sorry, I have to go" and leaving the library.

 

However, she wasn't left alone yet, because as soon as she closed the library doors behind her, she saw Severus running towards her. He was waving a small parchment in his hands in order to catch her attention.

He stopped only when he was right in front of her and he involuntarily doubled over in order to catch his breath. He handed her the parchment and explained it was their school schedule. She had Potions, Divination, Herbology, free period and Arithmancy class today. In the evening, she was supposed to have Astronomy too, starting at 9pm.

When Nox finally looked up, Severus was already gone. It was almost 9am and he didn't want to be late so he ran a soon as he finished with thee explanation. Around her, there were just a few students left walking through the hallway, probably going to breakfast.

Nox turned around and walked straight to the Slytherin common room. She would be late for the first class anyway, so simply waiting until the second class seemed like a much better idea.

 

 

. . .

 

 

The day went by with minimal amount of troubles and soon enough the Arithmacy class ended, too. All the students seemed to run outside at their first chance. It was a sunny day, after all.

Lily and Nox, however, decided to stay inside. Needless to say, Nox was pretty sure her plan to distract Lily so she forgets to ask has failed and was now awaiting the moment Lily would remember her promise. They were finishing their homework in the corner of the Gryffindor common room. Nox was anxiously looking around them every few minutes, despite the room being completely void of any other students. The fear of talking about everything with Lily seemed to wane in comparison to her fear of unknown and  of being unprepared. 

"We're alone, Nox. Please stop", Lily placed her quill down beside her parchment and looked at her friend. Nox had been much more careful than usual. 

"How can I? It's like I came for my death sentence! Why did I agree to come here?!", Nox rambled on in a hushed tone and Lily jokingly rolled her eyes at her in response.

"Nox. Breathe. Calm down. There's nobody here except for us. Everyone's outside, see?", Lily said in a calming tone and gestured to the nearest window. Nox stood up to look through it, finding most of the students outside. She took a deep breath and sighed with relief when she sat across from Lily again, realizing that all four Marauders were by the Lake and the chance of running into them was extremely low. She wasn't in a fighting mood today.

They continued writing their homework and, soon enough, they were done. Then they put their books away and lied down on the sofas across the unlit fireplace.

"I heard you were at madam Pomfreys this morning", Lily stated and caught Nox off guard.

"What? How?", Nox was confused.

"Remus told me", Lily explained, "He was really confused, but he understands you not wanting to talk about it."

Nox merely nodded, she wasn't angry or upset at him. She was expecting it, in fact. She just hoped it would be later rather than sooner. "It's not that he wasn't polite or nice or anything, Lils. It's just weird. It's too suspicious", she told her and it was now Lily's turn to nod in understanding, leaving both of them in silence for a while. After which, of course, she felt obligated to stop it, too.

"What happened this Summer?", Lily sat up to look at her and Nox took a deep breath in. She knew this moment was inevitable. Still, it seemed to come too quickly.

"I died, kind of", Nox finally said. As much as she tried to avoid it, maybe it was a better idea to just say it and be done with it. Her voice was small and quiet, but judging by Lily's shocked face, she managed to hear her.

"What? Why?!", she asked quickly and Nox tried to concentrate on the golden and red stripes on one of the walls. Lily's eyes widened, "It was them, wasn't it? How could they? They are your family! Have they no shame?! How dare they?!", she jumped up and rambled on in blind rage before noticing Nox shaking and unsuccessfully trying to steady her breath. Lily quickly sat beside her, embracing her in a warm hug. It eased Nox's nerves, but not entirely, as she dreaded Lily's next question even more.

Lily broke the hug and looked her in the eyes with a dead serious expression on her face.

"Why?", she asked through gritted teeth and Nox tried to avoid her gaze.

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Vari died. I had to bring her back, I had no choice", she told her. Vari was her first cousins cat. They both lived with Nox and her parents, so the cousin was more like a daughter to her parents. Hell, she was more like a daughter to them than Nox was.

So, when her precious persian cat died, Nox was the first one that she looked for. When Nox refused, her cousin used the killing curse and blackmail.

Now, Lily was stomping through the Gryffindor common room and yelling at Nox's entire family, even if they weren't there to hear it. Nox watched her helplessly. She hated this. Every time she would come back she would come back fragile. Anxious about everything and anything, exhausted and weak. It would fade over time, but still... She tried to calm her friend down, but Lily was practically unstoppable once she was angry. Not to mention, she was terrifying. 

"You can't go back", Lily stopped to point at Nox and Nox shook her head in exasperation. Her nerves made a mental picture of Lily hexing her on her next visit home. It was a funny sight, really, but her hands still for some reason decided to shake.

"That's what I was planning to say next, but you h-had to plan their deaths beforehand a-apparently. After I came back, my parents and I had a huge fight and I was-", she started talking and trying her hardest  not to stumble through her words. She wasn't afraid, but her body didn't know that and she hated it for it. next time she tried to speak though, she was interrupted by the sound of the common room entry and closing.

Now she was standing face to face with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Remus shot her an apologetic look once he saw Sirius frown turn into a smug smile.

" 'You were' what? Go on", Sirius asked her and Remus face palmed himself. Nox merely rolled her eyes at him, her face suddenly wearing an annoyed expression.

"And 'you care about it' why? Go on", she retorted, thankful to Merlin that her stuttering has finally stopped, at least for now.

"I do not care, McRiptide. As I recall, this isn't your common room, is it now?", he said and plopped himself on one of the sofas.

"As I recall, this isn't your castle. Black", she returned with a glare.

"You didn't answer my question", he reminded her, the smile that Nox wanted to hex off his face still present.

"That's because I didn't intend to", she replied and turned to leave, but was stopped by Remus.

"Does this have something to do with the morning visit to Poppy?", he asked her, but went quiet once he saw her pleading expression, "Sorry. You don't have to answer that."

"Yes she does", Sirius stood up and Lily glared at him. He ignored it, this all just seemed too interesting. The more questions he asked the more Nox seemed annoyed, so he was definitely set on pissing her off.

"Bloody hell, Black, leave her alone!", Lily snapped at him.

"I wanna know", he replied, while drawing the last word and sounding like a toddler.

"Well you can't!", she yelled in frustration.

"Of course I can!", he replied and they started bickering back and forth.

"You can't!" Lily looked ready to hex him.

"I can!", he replied, "Everyone has a right to ask questions. Beside, I was asking McRiptide, not you, Lily-"

"I was disowned!", Nox suddenly chimed in, cutting Sirius mid-sentence and leaving everyone in the room with expressions of utter shock on their faces. They were speechless.

Once she realized what she said, Nox quickly turned around and ran out of the room before any one of them could catch up with her. She didn't want to deal with them right now.

"See what you did now?", Lily looked angrily at Sirius.

"Me?! Oh, so this was all my fault?", he raised his left eyebrow in annoyance.

"Exactly!"

"Stop it! Both of you", Remus said, before walking out and trying to figure out where Nox could've went.

He searched the whole school for her. Quite literally, since the Marauders Map was with James and he was nowhere to be seen at the time. Remus went to the library, to all the classrooms he could think of, to the Hospital Wing, to the Quidditch field, to the Black Lake. He even stood in front of the Slytherin common room and tried to sneak in but failed and almost got hexed.

Finally, he went to the Forbidden Forest. He must've walked down the small forest path for about half an hour or so, before he spotted her.

Nox was sitting under a tree. Three Thestrals seemed to hang around too. They would run around and then return to where Nox was every few minutes as if they were checking if she's alright.

Quietly, he came closer and waved to her. Nox waved back, before focusing her look on the grass in front of her. She heard him sit beside her, but she didn't look at him or say anything.

"Are you alright?", Remus asked her hesitantly and she turned to look at him.

He then shook his head before Nox could say anything, "Who am I kidding, of course you're not! And I doubt you want to talk about it with me, do you?"

"Correct", Nox replied quietly and leaned her head on his shoulder, once again focusing on the grass in front of her. The Thestrals were circling and running around them ever so often.

"I'm sick of this", she told Remus quietly, her voice was shaking.

"I know", he answered, not quite sure as to what was he supposed to say,"I'm sure it'll be better, though."

"How so?"

"Well", he stopped for a moment, "You still have Lily, Snivel- I mean, Snape still seems to be here too, and I think I could count as a friend too, if you want that, of course. You are not alone."

"Yes, but I wasn't referring to that", Nox said without thinking. She mentally cursed herself as soon as she realized what she said. Today was just not her day.

"Well, what were you referring to?", Remus asked her and she shook her head.

"Another secret?", he asked again.

"Yeah", she answered grimly and hugged her knees, "Wish I could tell you, though"

"Okay, well then, can you at least tell me why you can't?", he asked her, surprised when she said that she actually wanted to tell him.

"Well, for starters, it's too personal and too risky. And, it's not exactly a bad thing, but it's not really a good thing to say to someone who I just started talking to, even if you do seem trustworthy", Nox explained, "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry", he replied, "I understand "

He felt bad for not being able to help, but he did understand her. He had a secret of his own, so he knew how it felt to be trapped by it.

"Wait, really?", she turned to look at him and he smiled.

"Really. But if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here." He smiled a crooked and honest smile. As if that promise was the one thing that both started and fueled the friendship. In a sense, it was.

"I'd ask why you can see the Thestrals, too", he started talking again, "but somehow, I think that's a secret for another time as well, isn't it?"

Nox smiled slightly at that and nodded.

"Yeah...", she dragged the word, before chuckling, "Can't we just sit here and try to think of names for them?"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to let me know what you think of it! ❤


	3. Are We Enemies Or What?

Despite knowing Lily was probably worried sick, Nox felt relieved she didn't have to confront her right away, seeing as she had an option of hiding in the Slytherin common room until the dinner or until the Astrology class she had afterwards. Honestly, she would welcome the option to avoid it all gladly, but she decided against it and she turned to face Remus first.

"Are you sure you can deal with both of them?", Nox asked him. She was thankful he searched for her earlier today. Even if he was a Gryffindor and a Marauder. She was trying to stop worrying and stop searching for some kind of conspiracy behind the gesture.

"I'm not sure, but I can try", he answered with a kind smile, which she returned. It was a rather nice look on him. It somehow felt like home, for some reason. The witch explained it by her lack of social interactions though.

Nox then decided to follow her original plan after all, which was hidding away until the dinner. It sounded like a good plan to Remus, too, but he unfortunately didn't have that option. Slytherins would've Avada Kedavra'd both of them if they saw him in their common room.

So instead, she thanked and waved him goodbye before they separated their ways, each heading to their own common room.

Nox soon found the entrance to the Slytherin common room. It was a picture of Salazar Slytherin, the founder of the house. The picture opened as soon as she said the password, revealing a rather big room. It was dark, but comfortable nonetheless. There was a big fireplace, much like the one in the Gryffindor common room, a pair of black sofas and a tea table. Everything was painted in their house colours, silver and green, alongside with lots of black and dark browns too. One entire wall was made of glass. It was the one that was facing the Black Lake, giving the whole room a sea green shine. A few smaller fishes were swimming close to the glass. They looked like they were admiring the room on the other side of it.

Not knowing what to do, Nox sat down beside the glass wall. Gazing through the water was one of the things she did often. It was relaxing and it always seemed to help her clear her mind.

On the other side, as soon as Remus got to the Gryffindor common room, he was stunned by Lily's and Sirius' actions. They were both sitting on one of the red sofas in silence. They didn't even acknowledge him as he walked right past him and to the boys dorm.

Not wanting to waste his luck, Remus marched upstairs and lied down on his bed, still deep in his thoughts. It wasn't long before he fell asleep like that.

While he was sleeping, downstairs in the common room, Sirius and Lily were still sitting in front of the unlit fireplace. Most of the students that returned to stay in the common room for the evening were gone to their dorms when a laughing James and Peter entered the room. They lit up once they saw Sirius and Lily sitting on the sofa.

"Padfoot! You won't believe what just happened! It was an epic prank!", Peter started blabbering with excitement and Sirius struggled to understand him. 

"Evans! How are you on this fine evening?", James said once he was standing in front of the two. Lily merely rolled her eyes at him. 

"Why do you care?", she replied to James and then turned to Sirius, "Don't you dare interrogate Remus without me or so help me Merlin I will-"

Sirius nodded solemnly before she even finished and Lily seemed glad about it, her mind was blank and she wasn't sure what she'd say if she had to finish that sentence. She was just too worried and tired. Next, Lily proceeded to say goodnight and left to the girls dorm. 

James stared after her for a moment before looking at Sirius with a confused look on his face. 

"It's nothing", Sirius waved him off and smiled lightly, looking as if he wasn't dead serious just a few minutes ago, "Now can you explain what the hell did you guys do? Sorry Wormtail, but I didn't manage to understand a word you said."

Peter didn't seem fazed by his words. He merely shrugged in response and sat down while waiting for James to start talking about the prank. They had come to an agreement to try and start small this year, to build up the suspense for the last feast.

James, on the other hand, hesitated. The way Sirius waved him off was too suspicious and he was determined to find out what all of it is about. Still, he knew better than to ask him straight away. If he didn't want to tell, then James sure as hell won't pester him about it. Well, at least for the next two days or so...

Trying to look nonchalant, James sat beside his two friends with a grin on his face.

"You know those knight armours in the halls? Yeah, well, Wormtail and I managed to charm them to suddenly hug whoever walks in front of them. It's perfect, Padfoot! No one can say we're causing trouble and it's still funny to see their expressions when our metal buddies hug them. Man, you should've seen Kingsley's face when it hugged him! He was scared shitless!", James talked happily and the three friends began laughing. 

"That's nothing! Lovegood hugged it back and talked to it for whole twenty minutes!", Peter added and they all laughed again.

"Oh man, I wish I've seen that", Sirius commented.

"Oh, but you will! The charm lasts for a full day, and it's harmless so I don't think anyone will try to take it off. It shouldn't wear off until tomorrow night ", James replied, happy that his friend will, after all, be able to see it. "Besides, the dinner will start soon. I'm sure you can see it on our way to the Great Hall"

"Prongs, you're a genius!", Sirius then exclaimed. 

"Of course I am, what took you so long?", James replied and got up while trying to dodge Sirius' punch, "Come on now, let's go tell Remus"

With previous events still playing out in his mind, Sirius followed after Peter and James. They discovered that Remus was asleep, so they ended up playing chess until it was time for dinner and then they woke him up, determined to tell him about the knights as soon as he opened his eyes.

Sirius didn't talk much for the rest of the evening. That is, until they saw the charmed knights. It was hilarious. On the first look, the armours looked pretty ordinary and plain, but as soon as someone in front of them moved they would jump and hug the daylights out of the person. No one was safe.

Right as the last victim managed to run away and the knight armour stopped moving, they could see Nox heading towards the Great Hall. Sirius panicked. He thought Nox deserved to be left alone after what has happened today, at least for a few days. This, he thought, was the last thing she needed right now. 

"James, quick! Stop the spell!", he turned to James only to see that Remus, who stood right beside him, had the same alarmed expression on his face. James, however, seemed oblivious as to what was happening.

Before they could react, the knight armour jumped in front of Nox and hugged her. She stood frozen in fear. It looked as if she wasn't even breathing. The only signs of her even acknowledging the situation were her hands. She was shaking like a leaf. The Marauders watched the scene intently, not knowing what will happen next.

Noticing that she wasn't moving, the knight jumped back to his previous position after a few moments and Nox took a deep breath of relief, before continuing on her way to the Great Hall.

Remus and Sirius fell silent as James and Peter looked at them with confusion written all over their faces.

"You two", James said, "have a lot of explaining to do" and while Remus nodded in a half heartened agreement, Sirius avoided his gaze. He was lost in his thoughts once again. It's just that, he couldn't shake off the fact that Nox, his long known enemy, was disowned. It was strange. She was dark, threatening and grumpy most of the times he had talked to her. She had almost perfect grades and was a decent duelist. Why on earth would her family, which was almost as crazy as his was, give all of that up so easily? She was going through the very thing he was planning to do as soon as he turns sixteen and now he felt so confused. This was changing a lot of his views, yet he still wasn't sure as to what it was changing them into.

The two now seemed more similar than he ever thought they were and it puzzled him to no end.

. . .

 

  
After the dinner, all of the students went to their dorms. Most of them stayed there too, except for the ones who had Astronomy. 

Fifth year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. Those students rushed to get their books and went to the Astronomy Tower as fast as they could. Nox was one of them, of course. She welcomed anything that had the potential to occupy her thoughts at least for a little while.

After the knight incident, the peace she felt knowing that she most likely won't have to run into anyone of the Marauders or Lily, grew. She hated the way she trembled and almost panicked when the damn thing touched her, but she survived and the dinner went by relatively peacefully. It was comforting, really. She tried to ignore as many people as she could as much as she could during the dinner, too. She just didn't feel okay enough to deal with them right now. The passive approach seemed far more convenient. 

Once she got to the top of the Astronomy Tower, Nox went to sit in her usual spot. 

It was a nice spot. The best one there. It was secluded and in shade, but it had the best view of the sky as well as of the rest of students there. Although not a lot of people could see her, Nox was able to see everyone from her seat.

The class went by rather quickly, though, and soon enough, everyone was packing up their books and leaving. Nox thought it would be a shame to leave so soon though, so she stayed. 

She sat there in silence and gazed at the sky. Millions of stars were scattered across it and the moon was almost full. The fresh breeze caressing her cheeks and playing with her hair almost made her doze off.

However, a sudden movement in the corner of her eyes woke her up. Nox quickly stood up and lifted her wand up in defense.

"Sorry, didn't see you there", she could hear a familiar voice. 

"Who are you?", she asked to make sure and, pretty soon, she could see Sirius standing in front of her. He was dressed in his school uniform and his shoulder-length, almost black hair was falling in his eyes. The usual shit-eating grin wasn't there though. "Black?"

"Yeah... I come here often. Never thought to see you here, though, Noxy", he answered and went to lay down to have a better view of the night sky.

"Don't call me that!", she scowled at him, then looked around herself before adding "I should get going".

Nox began to walk away. She had no intention of staying if he was here. But luck obviously wasn't favouring her at the moment, seeing as she was stopped by Sirius taking her hand and pulling her to sit down beside him before she could get away.

"Look, I know we never talk, shall I say, normally. But can you stay? I've been thinking this through the whole day and I don't care with who, but I have to discuss this with someone. Currently, you're the only one who can answer all these questions I have...", he explained with a sincere look on his face , "And I'm sorry for the things that happened today. For once, I really am."

"Poor you, it must of been really tough", Nox cracked a mean smile at Sirius' confused face, "To think, I mean"

"Seriously?", he had the most pained expression Nox has ever seen. It was quite amusing, to be completely honest.

"Do you really want me to answer that?", she chuckled and he rolled her eyes at her. Stupid puns.

"And here I thought that we can have a civilised conversation for once", he huffed and looked at the sky, completely ignoring her in the process. It, for some reason, made her feel sorry. After all, what is the worse he could do that she hasn't already gone through?

"Fine. What do you want?", she finally said and he smiled in triumph before moving to sit across from her and looking her in the eyes.

"Answers"

"Shoot", Nox ushered him. She didn't really feel like talking, especially not to him.

"How does it feel?", he asked her, suddenly nervously biting his lips and focusing all his attention on her words. She thought of the question and noticed he had a habit of brushing his hair out of his face in times of stress. The only times she saw him like this were when Lupin, no, Remus wasn't present in the class.

"How does what feel?", Nox asked him. She already knew what he was talking about, but she hoped he'd let it go. He couldn't find out the reason behind her disowning. It was too dangerous of a topic.

"Disowning. How does it feel?", he asked her again and she wished he didn't. She could feel her heart beat in her ears and right underneath her skin. This was a too personal of a question and her fight or flight reflexes were already kicking in. 

"Why are you asking me this? And why on earth do you think I will tell you, of all people?", she replied with her own questions, her voice raising at the end. Nox then got up and Sirius did the same.

"I have to know! Okay?"His frustration was clearly visible as she stopped in her tracks, anger boiling inside of her.

"And why is that?! So you know what to say the next time we fight?! So you know what to say when it seems like I'm winning the argument?! So you know exactly what to say to make me feel like a raging pile of shit?!", she raged. She wanted to stop talking and walk away. She wanted to never talk to anyone and to just ignore him forever. She couldn't. Her feet felt like they were stuck to the floor with a permanent sticking charm. Sirius' widened his eyes at her outburst. 

"What? No! It's so I know what to expect! So I can prepare. So I don't feel like I'm abandoning my brother when I decide to do it", Sirius replied with as much anger as Nox did. Both of them were now left shocked and quiet. Both felt like they said too much for their comfort.

"Fair enough", Nox suddenly replied and sat down again, Sirius following after her in silence. He still wasn't sure if it's a good thing he told her any of this, but he intended to go through with it before he could change his mind.

"I don't know your situation with your parents, but mine wasn't really the best and I imagine the Blacks being quite rigidly set in their medieval way as well. We fought a lot and I sometimes think they never thought of me as a part of family", Nox started talking. She was angry at herself for telling him all of this, but she couldn't stop her words from spilling right out of her mouth.

"But you're their daughter", Siruis interrupted her, remembering James' relationship with his own parents. Even his Orion and Walburga, no matter how cruel, never stopped reminding him that he was, in fact, of their blood. Nox almost teared up at his words. She shook her head and smiled to cover it up, but it turned out more like a chuckle and a pained expression. Nonetheless, it stopped her from crying, so she decided that it worked.

"There were things about me that they couldn't really forget. I tried. I choose Slytherin over Ravenclaw because of them. I died because of their other child's pet, for Merlin's sake!", the last bit came out before she could stop herself and she could only hope Sirius will take it as a metaphor.

"The point is, it hurts. No matter how much you hate them. That's why you have to be completely sure of your actions. Because it's too painful to think that your own blood threw you away so easily, without a blink of an eye. And even without that, it physically hurts. You are literally ripping out of generations of wizards and witches. It's like thousands of needles stabbing you at the same time and like someone's ripping you apart all at the same time", she finished and before he could think, Sirius hugged her. She hugged him back hesitantly, before quickly moving away with an apologetic smile.

"Can we continue answering those questions some other day?"

"Sure. Are you alright?", Sirius answered. If she hadn't known better she could swear she heard a hint of worry in his voice. It was the first time Nox saw him like that and, for both of them, it was strange. The fact that he was worried over her was even stranger. Still, she believed a big part of the worry was for himself, not for her. Nox was fine with it, through. You kind of get used to it after a while.

Sirius on the other hand was weirded out by himself. Sure, he sympathized with her at first, but now? Now he firmly believed he understood. He was now convinced they were in the same kind of a mess and he could relate.

"Yes, I just... It's quite a big thing to talk about this. Especially to someone who I never trusted with anything before", Nox explained as they started walking through the hall and down the stairs that led to the tower.

"I know, it's same for me. I mean, it's weird, but not necessarily bad", Sirius replied and Nox smiled in response. 

"You do know I still don't trust you with anything else but this, right? Perhaps not even with this"

"Look!" He jumped, seemingly back to his old self.

"What now?", Nox asked him, annoyed by his sudden outburst.

"We're finally agreeing on something!", he replied, causing Nox to chuckle. Needless to mention, she never thought she'll laugh at one of his jokes. It was a strange night, indeed.

Once they were ready to part their ways and after the short and mainly silent journey from the Astronomy Tower, they turned towards each other. 

"Does this change anything?", Nox asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I never thought fighting 24/7 would include being a Mental Support buddy too", she replied sarcastically.

"Oh, that. I don't know... Can't we just be our normal selves and then sometimes talk without yelling at each other or firing spells at one another?", he replied with a shrug.

"We can try, but I can't promise anything"

"Fair enough", he said and turned to leave, when suddenly, they could hear a voice. 

It was coming from behind them and it was, undoubtedly, Filtch. 

"What are you kids doing out of bed after the curfew?!", he hissed. His cat, Miss Norris, was sat beside his legs comfortably. She seemed to watch their every move.

In all of the panic, Sirius grabbed Nox's hand and they started running as fast as they can. They ended up sitting on the floor right outside the Great Hall, due to the knighting armour that jumped in front of Sirius and started hugging them both. 

Right when the knight stepped away though, they noticed Miss Norris standing in front of them, as if mocking their failed attempts to get away.

Before they could run away again, Filtch came running towards them. It took him a minute to catch his breath and for the whole time, Nox tried her hardest to prevent Sirius from running away. They were in enough trouble as it is, him getting away wouldn't solve anything. Plus, she didn't want to be the only one in trouble.

"Come along, you two", Filtch spat angrily once he could speak again and  headed to Professor McGonagall's office, Nox and Sirius following close behind him. Luckily, they didn't have to pass by the knighting armour, so Filtch didn't find out about it. 

When they finally got there, they entered a room with tons of books covering the majority of the four walls. A brown desk stood in the middle of it all. It all looked rather warm and welcoming. If it wasn't for his often visits to this room because of all the pranks, Sirius would never have guessed it was a Professor's office.

Nox noticed professor McGonagall come in and as if on cue, she felt claustrophobic. Her thoughts were all over the place, but her attention was on the wise looking, middle aged woman dressed in dark robes.

McGonagall was looking back at the two fifth graders with great disapproval in her eyes. She thanked Filtch and turned towards Sirius and Nox as soon as he left. 

"I assume you have a very good reason for staying out of your dorms after the curfew?", she looked at them questioningly. 

"Of course, Professor", Sirius replied quickly, "Of course we have a good reason"

"I can't read minds Mr. Black", professor replied when she saw that Sirius wasn't planning on explaining himself right away.

"Right, I am so terribly sorry, Professor. You see, Nox and I were chatting and we lost track of time", he then explained.

"Miss McRiptide, is this true?", Professor asked Nox. She knew better than to trust Sirius about anything to do with Slytherins. Then again, Nox wasn't really reliable when it came to Sirius, either. Minerva McGonagall was convinced it was a miracle they haven't killed each other yet.

"Yes, Professor", Nox nodded and replied. 

"Very well, but it's still breaking the school rules. Because of that, both of you will be serving detention for the next week with Mr Filtch", Professor McGonagall said, her voice stern and her posture tired.

"Now hurry, both of you. Go to your dorms."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! ❤


	4. Likewise

"I am so sorry!", Lily, hugged Nox as she sat beside her in the library tomorrow afternoon.

"It's okay, Lily. Really, don't worry about it", Nox replied and looked around as Lily smiled at her answer. Whoever made the rumor that Slytherins were bad was incredibly wrong. "Where's Severus?"

"You know, I have no idea", Lily shrugged as she thought of it. She was worried for him. Severus has been disappearing on her during the almost entire Summer. She hopped it was just a family problem and not that he choose to seek out his new, much darker Slytherin friends.

"Really? I thought you two were inseparable", Nox looked at her in wonder. She already knew Severus had feelings for Lily, so why would he be ignoring her?

"Well, you're the one who's in his house", Lily replied.

"I barely see him, he comes to classes and just disappears as soon as the bell rings", Nox thought of it out loud with a sad look in her eyes.

"He's probably with his new friends", Lily said bitterly and shook her head in disappointment, before returning to the conversation. "Speaking of it, what did you threaten to do to Remus if he tells us what you two talked about?"

"I haven't threatened him at all", Nox replied and raised her hands in surrender, making Lily chuckle in the process.

"Nox, we both know that's a lie", Lily huffed. She was worried about Nox a lot lately, too. Last year was horrible, with all the pranks and arguing between Nox and Sirius and then all the fights during the Christmas holidays between Nox and her family. It was quite a lot to endure.

Though, the same thing happened repeatedly. Every time something major and bad happened, Nox tried to avoid explaining it to her, or anybody else. Considering that Lily was pretty stubborn and ready to fight off anyone who did anything bad to Nox, it was pretty reasonable and obvious as to why she did that, but still...

"It isn't, we barely talked at all", Nox answered her truthfully. Not that Lily was keen on believing it, even if it was the truth.

"Really?", Lily asked her skeptically.

"No", Nox replied sarcastically and opened her book.

"Nox!", Lily looked shocked. It wouldn't be the first time Nox has threatened to anyone, but it still shocked her every time. With her pale toned skin, the hair and the freckles, Nox looked more like she's innocent and gravely ill right now, than like someone who'll be able to threaten someone with throwing them down the stairs in their sleep.

"Calm your horses, Lils. I'm just kidding", Nox chuckled at her friend.

"I was too", Lily nodded and smiled weakly, "at the beginning at least."

"I've noticed, yes", Nox smiled again and began reading her book.

Some time later, they were walking to the Great Hall for dinner. Lily kept returning their conversation to Nox's future. She wasn't letting her get out of this one that easily.

"So, what are you gonna do? You can stay at my house if you want", Lily asked her and Nox shrugged her shoulders.

"Don't you think that's dangerous?", she asked her and Lily looked at her with a puzzled look on her face.

"Huh?"

"I don't think I could endure Petunia like you do. Honestly, it's a real miracle you haven't gotten crazy through all these years living with her...", Nox tried to explain.

"Oh, come on! She's not that bad", Lily said and waved her off, not quite believing in it herself.

"Perhaps, but it's still a no, sorry. But I'll figure something out eventually, don't you worry ", Nox assured her. She hopped against all odds Lily will just drop the subject. She had a plan of her own, after all. She just had to finish school first. If her family doesn't find and close the secret vault she still had at Gringots. Thanks to her late aunt Antoinette and her last name, she was able to set it up at the beginning of her first year at Hogwarts. She knew very well that home wasn't safe and wanted to rather be safe than sorry. It payed off in the end.

"Fine, but I'm coming to visit every day, no matter where you go", Lily said in a 'matter of fact' tone, " You can't leave me to turn insane because of Petunia. At least not before I graduate."

"Oh, but Petunia is not that bad", Nox tried to mimic Lily, causing Lily to laugh and shake her head at her disapprovingly.

"Oh, shut up", Lily pushed her shoulder jokingly, "Anyway, you're staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, right?"

"I think so. And you?"

"I don't know yet", Lily answered truthfully. She wanted to stay, but she wasn't sure what would her parents say to that. They already saw each other rarely as it is. She knew Nox would understand whatever happened though. Her family life was hell, but she knew how nice Lily's parents were. If it wasn't for such tense relationship between her sister and her, she'd invite Nox for Christmas, but she knew better than that. Hogwarts was the only place Nox thought of as home.

What was probably going to be a moment of silence between the two, was interrupted seeing as the Marauders walked right past them.

"Evans", James saluted Lily and she rolled her eyes at him.

Nox stifled a laugh at her friends' expression as the Marauders walked ahead and entered the Great Hall.

They were on their way there too, when they heard a familiar voice echo behind them.

They turned around, only to be met by none other than Evangeline Irvin, a tall six grader who always wore her brown hair in a high pony tale and always held her nose even higher than the respective pony tale. She was laughing at something one of her friends had said.

In that moment though, Evangeline caught their gaze. Her smile faded quickly.

"What are you looking at?!", she snapped and Lily swore she saw Nox flinch at the sudden sound. She was still quite shaken from Summer, even if she was being more of herself with each day. After life adventures make you more jumpy than you'd think and there's no telling when that trait will fade. Nox covered it up before anyone else could notice and put up an unamused and proud posture in no time.

"We merely glanced away from our path, I apologize if that bothers you", Nox replied slowly, her voice sharp, calculated and cold and her face void of any emotions, except for a tinny hint of sarcasm in the way she formed the words. Evangeline raised an eyebrow at her questioningly, as if searching for any sign of Nox lying.

"Disguising fear with sarcasm, I see", she commented with an amused expression and then continued in a lot louder tone, "Begone, now. Before I hex both of you!"

Nox didn't reply. Instead, she took Lily's hand, taking her time and slowly dragging both of them into the Great Hall and to their usual seats at the Gryffindor table.

"What was that!?", Lily asked her, still shocked at the fact that her best friend can turn emotionless in just a few seconds. She knew that from before, of course, but the mere thought of it still had her trying her hardest not to stare at her.

"The usual. We should've known better than to just stare like that", Nox answered her, her mask now completely gone and replaced with worry.

"What? No! She can't do that", Lily stared at her friend in disbelief.

"Do what exactly, Lily? Treat people around her like scum? Trust me, she's done worse things than that", Nox said and Lily merely huffed in annoyance and choose to try and focus on the plates settled before them.

"Hello", they suddenly heard a soft voice somewhere beside them.

There, sitting across from them, was Remus Lupin.

"Remus, hi", Lily greeted him with a smile, which he returned, of course.

"I heard yelling outside, are you two alright?", he asked.

"We're alright, no need to worry. We kind of ran into Evangeline after we saw you guys. It went better than planned", Nox was the one to reply now. He nodded in understanding.

"I almost forgot! Lily, James told me-", Remus started saying but was interrupted by a panicked Lily.

"Can't you not say it and tell him you did? Pretty please?"

"No can do, Lily-flower. He promised to pay in chocolate!", Remus explained and Lily chuckled at his expression.

"Fine. But you're gonna share it with us. Deal?", Lily answered with a smug smile plastered on her face.

"Deal", Remus accepted the offer and they shook hands. Then he cleared his throat and Lily jokingly took a deep breath to prepare herself. "He told me to say that he loves your new hairstyle", he gestured to her red hair, which was currently in a braid, "And, as always, he asked you to go out with him, to celebrate the beautiful hairdo, no doubt"

"Well, that wasn't that bad", Nox commented.

"I suppose you're right, it could've been worse", Lily agreed and then turned to Remus again, "Do I have to answer?"

"I think so...", he seemed serious for a moment.

"Fine. Tell him to leave me alone", Lily told him without a second thought.

"Don't forget to thank him for the compliment! I did that", Nox added with a grin and gestured to Lily's hair.

"Will do", Remus replied with a smile and got up to return back to the Marauders. He was relieved to see Nox was alright again after everything that happened not so long ago. He was sure her secret, whatever it was, was an extremely painful one, if not physically then emotionally for sure, and he could never bare to see someone struggling with it alone like he did before he met the Marauders. He didn't want to speculate on what exactly it is though, it was her secret to share when and with who she wants, after all. But he did know that it was something that made her hurt, worry and separate herself from almost everything and that, he could understand and sympathise with. He just hopped he'd be able to help if she ever ends up asking for help from him. For now, all he could do was wait.

"What did she say, Moony?", James was exploding with questions as soon as Remus sat beside him.

"Calm down, Prongs. You're gonna knock down the whole table", Remus tried calming him down but it didn't work. Not that he tried particularly hard either, his friend was quite an energetic one, especially when it comes to Lily.

"Come on, Moony, tell me", James dragged out his words up and Sirius laughed at his expression.

"Fine. She told you to sod off and then Nox thanked you for the compliment, because she was the one who did Lily's hair."

"Nox?", James seemed confused, "Who's that?"

"McRiptide. You gotta admit tho, the braid looks pretty cool", Sirius automatically answered and almost face palmed himself as soon as he heard himself. He then proceeded to stuff his mouth with food in hopes they won't ask him why he would he say that if he hates her.

James just looked weirdly at him, "Alright"

"What's gotten into you lately, Pads?", Peter asked and shook his head in disapproval, before digging into the food as well, deciding it's better to focus on dinner.

Sirius almost forgot about the detention he had that night. The chatter of students and his friends made his worries melt away, as they always did, but the sight of the Fat Lady reminded him quickly.

"You guys go ahead, I have a detention tonight", he told the them as they all looked at him, surprised expressions on their faces. Sirius would dare to say James' expression had a hint of pride to it as well.

"When did you even manage to get detention without us?", Peter voiced everyone's thoughts.

"I got caught after the curfew yesterday, went to the kitchens too late...", he lied as best as he could, knowing that they'll find out the truth sooner or later. However, he preferred it to be later, so he didn't deny his false reason and instead headed to Filtch's office right away.

. . .

 

"Black", Sirius was greeted by Nox as soon as he came closer to the doors of Filtch's office. He squinted at the darkness, only to find the space in front of him empty.

"Here, you idiot", Nox rolled her eyes at him and stood beside him.

"Hey!"

"We agreed to act normal towards each other, did we not?", she said and all Sirius could say to that was "Fair enough".

As of cue, the doors to Filtch's office opened and there stood Mr. Filtch. Miss Norris was sitting completely still beside him, as if she was the one who was expecting students and not Filtch.

"Good evening, Sir", Nox automatically said, "We're here for our detentions"

"Good evening to you too, Miss McRiptide, Mr Black", Filtch said, "For today, you will be helping in the library. No magic allowed. Come"

Before either one of them could say anything, Filtch and Miss Norris started walking towards the school library. Sirius and Nox followed close behind them.

Once they were in the library, the librarian gave each of them a pile of books which they had to sort out and return to their rightful place at one of the shelves. Just looking at all the shelves made Nox sleepy. She loved books and reading, but Merlin was she tired!

"So, how's your day been so far?", Sirius tried to strike a conversation. Instead, he was met with Nox' glare.

"We're in the library", she pointed out.

"And your point is?"

"Libraries are usually quiet places", she gave another obvious hint for him to stop talking.

"Usually", Sirius pointed out, "That means not always"

"Merlin, Black can you just shut up?", Nox raised her voice in frustration, only to be shushed by the librarian.

"No, can't do", Sirius replied with a smirk on his face, knowing just how much he was annoying to her. Much to his surprise, Nox didn't respond. She was too focused on looking at one of the books in the restricted area.

"Can you cover for me?", she suddenly blurted out and looked at Sirius with hopeful eyes.

"Sure", Sirius said, " 'Cause we normally always do that for each other. I mean, of course. We did promise to act normal, didn't we?"

"Really?"

"Siriusly", he told her and nodded in agreement, grinning at his own pun.

"Fine. I don't care. Just don't rat me out", she said and Sirius laughed loudly, "What?! What is it now?"

"Oh, nothing, really", he answered as the librarian told him to stop making noise as he pretended to wipe a tear away.

"Fine, now if you'll excuse me", she pushed past him and he looked at her for a moment.

"Fine", he threw his hands in exasperation,"I'll help. But why do you need me to cover for you?"

"I have to go over there", she pointed at the restricted area, "And grab a book. Can you just, cover for me, so I don't get caught?"

"Maybe", Sirius answered, "Depends"

"Oh come on!", Nox exasperatedly threw her hands in the air, letting them fall as soon as they reached her hair, which was, by the way, in much better and calmer state today. "On what does it depend?"

"Which book, why and what exactly do I get out of this?", he said almost cheerfully, with a smug smile on his face.

"I don't know the exact name, but you can look at it after the detention", Nox tried to avoid the other conditions.

"Not so fast, what do I get for helping?", Sirius said and crossed his arms on his chest.

"All the honor of helping a young lady", Nox smiled sweetly at him.

"Nope, that's not it", Sirius shook his head in disapproval, "But nice try"

"Fine. You can look at the book with me after the detention, like I said before, and as for your payment, I'll do your part of detention. Sounds good?", Nox said with a sense of dread in her voice and Sirius clasped his hands together.

"Sounds marvelous!"

. . .

  
An hour or so later, Nox was finally done and, needless to say, she was exhausted. But the desire to get ahold of the book she saw earlier was stronger.

"All done", she told Sirius, "Now do your part of the deal".

Sirius merely nodded and immediately walked straight to the librarian, picking up a random book on his way.

"Excuse me, Miss. I can't seem to find where this book belongs", Nox could hear him say. The librarian stood up and started walking to the opposite side of the library with Sirius right behind her in order to find where the book should go.

Nox didn't waste her time, she entered the restricted section as quietly as she could and ran to the book. It was an old book dressed in black leather covers with a phoenix painted on the front cover, just above the golden coloured letters that said 'Everything We Know About Phoenixes'. As fast as she could, Nox hid the book inside of her robes and returned to her previous spot just in time for the librarian to emerge out of the last row of bookshelves with a determined look on her face.

"Can I help? I think I just saw a place for that one", Nox told her and the librarian smiled and handed her the book, which Nox retrieved to its previous place.

"Well, I think it's safe to say your detention is over. Both of you may return to your dorms now. Goodnight", the librarian gladly ushered them out as soon as she checked that they finished all the work they had to finish. Sirius and Nox politely wished her a goodnight before exiting the library.

"Did you get the book?", Sirius asked her as soon as he closed the doors behind them.

"Of course!", Nox replied happily, "To the Astronomy Tower?"

"To the Astronomy Tower", Sirius confirmed and they headed to their destination. Once there, Nox took out the book from her robes and they both sat in her usual spot.

"Never thought you'd be so interested in Phoenixes", Sirius mumbled as he turned the book in his hands.

"They are pretty interesting beings", Nox shrugged, telling only half of the reason why she was interested in reading the book as they started to skim through the first few pages.

"Yes, but not really worth of everything you did just to get ahold of the book about them", Sirius retored, "There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"Yes and I'm not gonna tell you, so don't even ask", Nox said and took the book out of his hands.

"Fair enough", Sirius shruged and replied before getting up, "I should go". As interested as he was, he wasn't in the mood to fight or argue about a plain book. He would get his answers sooner or later, he was sure of it. Now was just not the time, he guessed, so he decided to leave her to it after all.

"Probably", Nox agreed.

"Well, see you around, McRiptide, I guess", he said and started to leave. Then he stopped to think about what he wanted to say and decided it was now or never.

Sirius turned back around so he was facing Nox again. He could see she was a bit confused at that.

"You know, you're really not as bad as I thought", he said. He really meant it, and, in his eyes at least, it was an honest compliment.

Quickly turning around again, he left before she got a chance to say anything back. But it didn't matter, not really. Because Nox was completely sure she would regret the fact that she answered that with a quiet "Likewise" even more if he ever happened to hear her.

With a faint smile on her face, Nox opened the book and started reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think! ❤❤❤
> 
> (I was writing all of this kinda in a rush, so I'm not sure if there are any mistakes, so please let me know if you catch any)

**Author's Note:**

> I'd just like to say that English isn't my first language and I'm typing out everything on my phone, so if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes, please let me know so I can fix it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! ❤


End file.
